Planning Grant: Engineering research center for managing complex socio-environmental problems using a generic, tiered system-of-systems (GTSoS) modeling and data-science framework

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

Complex socio-environmental problems, including those associated with coastal and inland flooding, the food/energy/water nexus, and interdependent infrastructure systems, are among the greatest challenges faced by humanity. Resilience and sustainability are often used to frame and study these families of ?wicked? problems. To resolve any of these challenges, solutions must consider many complex and interrelated socio-environmental systems. Collectively, these societal challenges, which can only be tackled by effective interdisciplinary teams, require a convergence research approach. This planning grant is guided by a vision for an Engineering Research Center (ERC) that aims to manage several families of complex socio-environmental problems using a generic, tiered system-of-systems (GTSoS) modeling and data-science framework. The comprehensive interdisciplinary approach can link domains that do not always collaborate easily (engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences) in new and highly productive ways. In addition, productive and durable transdisciplinary engagement and collaborations among researchers and a broad cross section of stakeholders will support decision-making that improves collective governance for some of the world's most difficult problems. The planning project participants will include biophysical scientists and engineers, social scientists as well as computer and data scientists. Collectively, this group represents the multiple knowledge domains, including water resources, ecology, agriculture, systems engineering, economics, anthropology, health, and education, necessary to address complex socio-environmental problems. The novel GTSoS framework, which fuses data science, domain science, and systems modeling, is designed to be both scalable and extensible, capturing the dynamics of individual systems as well as the complex dynamics of interconnected socio-environmental systems.To prepare the foundation of the ERC, the planning team will engage with many experts and stakeholders in a series of virtual meetings and in-person workshops which will generate knowledge and insights that will enable the successful design of the ERC. The workshops will also facilitate the emergence of strong and diverse teams with appropriate institutional expertise that support the implementation and management of the ERC. The ERC will initially focus on two core areas, one of which addresses the methodological approach, while the other tackles food/energy/water systems. The methodological core generalizes the approach to solving complex socio-environmental problems and allows additional families of problems to be added as the ERC matures. Effective interdisciplinary teams will be achieved by leveraging organizational design with the appropriate deployment of collaborative technology to overcome disciplinary and geographical boundaries and to ensure a culture of deep collaboration and inclusion. Principles and methods from decision analysis, multi-scale decision theory, and social choice theory will support decision-making, effectively enhancing leadership and management of the ERC. A primary workshop will have a science and modeling component to resolve key challenges in the GTSoS modeling and data-science framework and a process component to reveal how the organizational structure of the ERC can be optimized to accelerate advancement and discovery. A final synthesis workshop will develop an effective ERC structure, as well as detailed outlines of the ERC proposal and a manuscript on lessons learned. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.